Julie Strain Dead at 57

Julie Strain

B-movie icon and Heavy Metal magazine model, Julie Strain, died at age 57 this Sunday.

Strain appeared in a number of mostly B-rated movies, notably those by Andy Sidaris, but also had bit-parts in many mainstream films, including Beverly Hills Cop III and Naked Gun 33¹/₃: The Final Insult. 

Strain was married to Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles creator and Heavy Metal publisher, Kevin Eastman, for 11 years, and starred in the animated film, Heavy Metal 2000.  The two divorced in 2008.

© The Weirding, 2020

Uncle Lloyd Breaks Shit Down

Troma's Uncle Lloyd Kaufman breaks shit down regarding the media cartels and the open warfare these terrorists employ to "sanction" and disenfranchise independent artists and creators.

Get it while it's hot because Alphabet/Google/YouTube/Blogger/Pentagon will definitely ban this soon.

© The Weirding, 2019

vs. Wife, Mother, Murderer

The B-Raters vs. Wife, Mother, Murderer

© The Weirding, 2016

vs. Devil Rider!

The B-Rater vs. Devil Rider

© The Weirding, 2016

vs. Cheerleader Massacre 2 - ep. 2.13

We have little idea what to expect from this movie because it was not directed by Popatopolis, the originator of what we were somewhat shocked to find is a franchise... oh bullshit, we know exactly what to expect from this film - read the title! Snakes on a Plane... Suffice it to say, this episode is not for the kids (or the prudish)!

Be sure to join us tomorrow night for what is sure to be a rollicking, jiggling, good time! It's The B-Raters vs. Cheerleader Massacre 2 starting around 10pm CT on YouTube and Google HoA.

© The Weirding, 2015

Fred Williamson

Fred "The Hammer" Williamson

Fred "The Hammer" Williamson is probably best known for his role on that one episode of Murder She Wrote, but he appeared in other cinematic works along the way. 

In fact, Williamson has appeared in numerous B-movies, including several Black Cobra installments, Quentin Tarantino's From Dusk to Dawn, Children of the Corn 5, and many more.

Williamson is a former professional American Football player who took to the screen naturally.  His martial arts skills and large stature made him a shoo-in for lead roles in action and exploitation films.

  Fred Williamson's earliest TV work lead to a slew of roles in Blaxploitation movies throughout the 1970s, including Black Caesar and Boss Nigger.  While these roles cemented him as a solid lead in film, it also typecast him somewhat. In 1974, he opened Po' Boy Productions, which has made over 40 titles since it was founded.

Even today, Fred Williamson remains one of the most prolific, and in demand, black actors in Hollywood.  A reboot of Black Cobra is rumored and Williamson has no fewer than 10 projects either in the works or already completed and awaiting release (according to IMdB) at the time of this writing.

Interestingly, Fred Williamson is a trained Architect.  He appeared in Playgirl in 1973... which is how "The Hammer" got his nickname.

Copyright 2014, The Weirding

vs. Cheerleader Massacre

The Ever-Subtle Popatopolis

The B-Raters vs. Jim Wynorski's Cheerleader Massacre is only one day away! Knowing you just can't wait for yet another beration of a Popatopolis Slasher classic (well, loosely a classic - very loosely a "cult classic"), we offer this image of the original Cheerleader Massacre onesheet which we pulled off the Web through a simple search engine query.

You can check out the hilarious promos we made for this mockery on the usual social outlets. We are developing webpages for hosting each episode alongside the movie but, until then, we are presenting as much information regarding the films we present on the show pages which used to be served by G+ Events.

Wynorski, aka Popatopolis, is known for casting large-breasted actors of the female persuasion and exploiting their assets. Cheerleader Massacre contains several scenes of a sexual nature, along with a handful of scenes featuring gratuitous violence. Only viewers 18+ will be allowed to view the Hangout or watch the replay. The B-Raters have faced-off against some of Wynorski's previous creations.

The B-Raters vs. Cheerleader Massacre will be recorded LIVE on Google Hangouts Saturday October 25^th, 2014 around 9:30pm, CDT. Links to the riff will be posted in the comments below following the taping

Copyright 2014, The Weirding

Jim Wynorski, aka Popatopolis

Popatopolis

Jim Wynorski is a crafty, and exceedingly thrifty, director of somewhat less-than-B-rated movies such as The Bare Wench Project, Sorority Party Massacre 2, and similar fare. 

He chooses to work outside the Hollywood studio system and has shot entire films in as few as three days.  Wynorski has directed many films under countless pseudonyms but he is known within the industry as "Popatopolis." 

He got this name for his frequent usage of the direction, "Let's pop some tops!" when preparing to film topless scenes.  He sums-up his filmmaking philosophy thusly: "A Big Chase and a Big Chest."

Wynorski relocated to California in the 1980s, where he sought-out his filmmaking idol, Roger Corman.  Corman hired Popatopolis to cut trailers for upcoming films.  About six months into this, Corman approached Wynorski with a development deal which lead to the cult classic, Chopping Mall.

Wynorski has experience in various movie-making roles and often acts as a kind of one-man media empire.  While most of his recent releases have been on-demand titles, he made a plethora of straight-to-video exploitation flicks that did very well in cable syndication throughout the 1980s and '90s.  His parsimony is so well-known that it inspired a documentary on his spartan filmmaking process.

It was during this rise to prominence that he became known for casting busty, beautiful women in heroic, and unapologetically exploitative, leading roles.  As though his pedigree wasn't impressive enough, Jim Wynorski has worked with such B-movie goddesses as Julie Strain, Morgan Fairchild, and Heather Locklear.  His modest, California apartment is literally packed with B-movies, mostly in VHS format.

Wynorski has experienced moderate success within the Hollywood system and it is unclear why he chooses to go the underground route, as it seems he should be able to find greater financial success than he has.  While his movies are often formulaic, his talent for filmmaking is undeniable, and the product is always entertaining.

Jim Wynorski has a particular gift for editing, which he credits to his tutelage under Corman.

Copyright 2014, The B-Raters

Rapesploitation

I Spit on Your Grave

Rapesploitation flicks reached their height during the 1970s' Exploitation Film movement but "Roughies" predate them by several decades.  The majority of Rapesploitation films from the 1970s exploited the Women's Rights Movement of the era and almost all are Revenge Flicks. Like every field, there are earnest attempts, but the majority of these films were simply capitalizing on controversial issues of the times.

The Sexual Revolution of the previous decade paved the way for the release of more provocative films on a wider level but part of the Women's Rights Movement included the "Freedom to Choose" -- sexual partners without facing a social double-standard, to pursue a career instead of being a mother or homemaker, and so forth.  As some of the worst examples in this sub-genre prove, the idea threatened a significant portion of American audience members of both genders for various reasons.

All of this coincided with the popularity of the Devil Flick, a sub-genre of Religiousploitation which usually features a female victim who utters sexually explicit language to the shock of all onlookers.  Possession, in this sense, was portrayed as rape.  These films did much better with audiences, as more people related to them despite the prevailing attitude that many women "got what they deserved" or somehow "brought it upon themselves."  Against a religious backdrop, everyone could become a victim.

Rapesploitation films usually took the side of victim, not always preying on the simpler and uglier emotions but sensationalizing the issue nonetheless.  The worst absolutely used the guise of Women's Rights and Sexual Freedom as flimsy ruses by which to peddle smut.

Copyright 2014, The Weirding

The Difference Between Cult and Exploitation Movies

The B-Raters view all manner of content with few exceptions but we most often find ourselves watching Cult and Exploitation films - and, all too often, real B-rated trash.

Cult movies are often lumped-in with Exploitation and B-movies but they are neither, necessarily. "Cult" movies refer to films that have become perennially popular amongst an audience. This audience rarely holds any political, religious, or other views as a group; they simply love a particular movie. Over the years, these movies began to develop a certain nature and revel in particular subject matters, and films with these traits have come to be labeled Cult movies. To be sure, Cult movies can be manufactured and qualify as a genre, but the fans really choose which movies become Cult films, and these are not always Independent, dark, or quirky.

Exploitation films are generally believed to have been most popular, and most often made, in the 1970s but exploitative movies have been made since the dawn of the motion picture. In some sense, all movies made today can be considered exploitative but the term, "Exploitation movies," refers to a specific genre of films and filmmaking most prevalent in the 1970s. To this we would add the "Roughies" of the 1950s and '60s and, yes, Pornography falls into this category as well (formerly referred to as "Blue" or "Stag" films). In fact, many of the earliest photographs and cave drawings would be considered "pornographic" by today's prudish standards. A handful of movies from other decades are also relevant, most notably Tod Brown's Freaks and Mom & Pop - a sleazy flick which was released as an educational film regarding the birds and bees.

While there has been a recent wave of new Exploitation flicks, the most popular sub-genres were established by American movies from the 1970s. These include Blaxploitation, Sexploitation, Rapesploitation (Revenge flicks), Grindhouse, Brucesploitation ("Bruce Lee" films starring everyone except Bruce Lee), and a handful of others. Some rather newer categories of Exploitation include Nazisploitation, Nunsploitation, Ozploitation, and Religiousploitation. Sometimes the Spaghetti Westerns of the 1960s and Slasher flicks of the 1980s, as well as a specific type of documentary (called Mondo or "Shockumentary"), are included in this overall genre. While the Slasher film deserves special consideration, only the documentaries from the list above are actually Exploitation Movies. "Exploitation" refers as much to a Movement in filmmaking as it does a style or genre.

Exploitation Movies were made outside the Hollywood system by the first true, commercial, Independent Filmmakers. That deserves capitalization these days as Independent Film has become a cottage Hollywood industry in and of itself. In its infancy though, it usually referred to B-rated movies churned out by shady types who weren't necessarily "filmmakers" by trade. Many of these were, intentionally or not, sleazy and exploitative. This includes Pornographic movies, which briefly achieved mainstream success with the theatrical wide-release of Deepthroat in 1974.

While any asshole with an iPhone can be called an "Independent Filmmaker," Exploitation movies were made possible by the popularity of the American Drive-In and their makers were driven solely by commercial desire. This movement was heavily propelled and defined by the success of George Romero's Night of the Living Dead, which is why many of these movies belong in the Horror genre or have Horror overtones. Most horror film historians and experts agree that the political climate of that Era is most responsible for the movement and, often times, the material is in too poor of taste for Hollywood standards of the period.

While some of these movies aspire to, and even fewer actually achieve, some higher purpose, most Exploitation and Drive-In movies were created to make money. They did so by featuring taboo subjects in a lurid and sensationalistic manner and with little budget. This is known as a lowest common denominator approach which had already been perfected by daytime TV. The low budget resulted in few sets and even fewer permits, rushed takes, and poor quality equipment. Thus, cinema-veritae cinematography and cheap film resulted in grainy shots and shaky camerawork that became hallmarks of the movement, lending these movies that "Gritty" atmosphere.

Blaxploitation movies were originally poorly produced by white men who saw a lucrative market, for example. However, they provide a far more realistic portrayal of black American life in those times than most Hollywood movies made during the same period despite the fact that they rely on exploitative situations and stereotypes. Most of these movies found their most lasting audience members at the Drive-In, thus the overlap in Cult, Exploitation, Drive-In, and B-movies.

 But not all horror movies, or Drive-In films, can be considered Cult or Exploitation.

Religiousploitation

Religiousploitation films include those with religious themes as well as those created specifically for proselytizing, but this Exploitation movie sub-genre usually exploits a common belief or fear of the religious.  The Devil Flick is probably the most ubiquitous of the Religiousploitation films but Apocalyptic themes draw a close second.

Devil Flicks are a specific sub-genre that usually involve possession.  Sometimes, Ghost Flicks are lumped-in here as well, but general Supernatural or Occult films are not necessarily a good fit.  

Devil Flicks also include a wide range of movies that have no overt religious themes or implications aside from the existence of demons and their ability to impact the natural world.  Whatever the mythology involved, the end result is that there is no scientific explanation for the Menace or its abilities, leaving only a Supernatural one.  The Exorcist, The Amityville Horror, and Evil Dead are all examples of Devil Flicks.

Apocalyptic themes have persisted since the Dawn of Man but their popularity as the subject for Christian-themed fiction soared in the late 1990s, spawning its own sub-genre of Religiousploitation flicks.  Although Rapture movies target the Christian market and this sub-genre is dedicated to them, Apocalyptic themes was already a staple of cinematic pop-culture and entertainment, particularly in science-fiction. 

While the Turn of the Century certainly played some part in the popularity of The Rapture as subject matter, the most successful of these franchises spans 16 novels, four movies, and a major Hollywood reboot is scheduled for future release.  That Rapture series started in 1995 and continues to this day.

Religiousploitation films do not necessarily have to choose sides in the religious debate.  John Carpenter's Prince of Darkness falls into the Religiousploitation field due to subject matter but concerns itself more with the Lovecraftian concept that there are simply Things Man Should Not Know -- "Religion trumps Science," in the phrasing of that film.  Prince of Darkness is also a Devil Flick but only on a technicality for the purposes of this example.

Copyright 2014, The Weirding